Justin Martyr, First Apology 63
Even now, all Jews teach that the unnamed God spoke to Moses. Therefore the prophetic Spirit, through the prophet Isaiah whom we mentioned earlier, rebukes them with words we have already cited: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger, but Israel does not know me, and my people do not understand me" (Isaiah 1:3). Because the Jews did not understand what Father and Son truly are, Jesus the Christ also rebukes them in a similar way, declaring: "No one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). The Word of God is his Son, as we stated before. He is also called an angel and an apostle, because he announces everything that must be known and is sent to proclaim what he announces, just as our Lord himself said: "Whoever hears me hears the one who sent me" (Luke 10:16).
This will become evident from the writings of Moses. For it is written there: "And an angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire from the bush, and said: I am the one who is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of your fathers. Go down to Egypt and lead out my people" (Exodus 3:2, 6, 10). You can learn what follows from these passages if you wish, since it is not possible to record everything here. Yet these words serve as proof that Jesus the Christ, who existed before as the Word and appeared at one time in the form of fire and at another in an incorporeal image, is the Son of God and the apostle. Through the will of God he became a man on behalf of the human race, and he endured and suffered what the demons, incited by the senseless Jews, brought upon him.
Although the ordinances of Moses state expressly: "And an angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire from the bush, and said: I am the one who is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob" (Exodus 3:2, 6), they claim that the Father of all, the Creator who spoke these words, is the one speaking. Therefore the prophetic Spirit also rebukes them: "But Israel does not know me, and the people do not understand me" (Isaiah 1:3). And again Jesus, as we have shown, would say to them: "No one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matthew 11:27). Because the Jews have always believed that the Father of all spoke to Moses, when in fact it was the Son of God, who is also called an angel and an apostle, they are justly convicted both by the prophetic Spirit and by Christ himself of knowing neither the Father nor the Son.
Those who say the Son is the Father are convicted of knowing neither the Father, nor that he has a Son, the Father of all, who as the Word and firstborn of God exists. Previously, through the form of fire and an incorporeal image, he appeared to Moses and the other prophets; but now, in the time of your rule, as we said before, he became a man through a virgin according to the will of the Father for the salvation of those who believe in him. He endured scorn and suffering, so that by dying and rising he might conquer death.
What was spoken to Moses from the bush — "I am the one who is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of your fathers" (Exodus 3:6, 15) — signifies that even though they died, they remain and are Christ's people. For they were the first of all human beings to devote themselves to the search for God: Abraham, the father of Isaac; Isaac, the father of Jacob; as Moses also wrote (Genesis 12–35).
Greek
Ἰουδαῖοι δὲ πάντες καὶ νῦν διδάσκουσι τὸν ἀνωνόμαστον θεὸν λελαληκέναι τῷ Μωυσεῖ. Ὁθεν τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προμεμηνυμένου προφήτου ἐλέγχον αὐτούς, ὡς προεγράψαμεν, εἶπεν· „Ἔγνω βοῦς τὸν κτησάμενον καὶ ὄνος τὴν φάτνην τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ, Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκε“. Καὶ Ἰησοῦς δὲ ὁ Χριστός, ότι οὐκ ἔγνωσαν Ἰουδαῖοι, τί πατὴρ καὶ τί υἱός, ὁμοίως ἐλέγχων αὐτοὺς καὶ αὐτὸς εἶπεν· „Οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, οὐδὲ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ οἷς ἂν ἀποκαλύψῃ ὁ υἱός“. Ὁ λόγος δὲ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ, ὡς προέφημεν. Καὶ ἄγγελος δὲ καλεῖται καὶ ἀπόστολος· αὐτὸς γὰρ ἀπαγγέλλει, ὅσα δεῖ γνωσθῆναι, καὶ ἀποστέλλεται μηνύσων, ὅσα ἀγγέλλεται, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸς ἱ κύριος ἡμῶν εἶπεν· „Ὁ ἐμοῦ ἀκούων ἀκούει τοῦ ἀποστείλαντός με“. Καὶ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ Μωϋσέως δὲ συγγραμμάτων φανερὸν τοῦτο γενήσεται. Λέλεκται δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς οὕτως· „Καὶ ἐλάλησε Μωϋσεῖ ἄγγελος θεοῦ ἐν φλογὶ πυρὸς ἐκ τῆς βάτου καὶ εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, θεὸς Ἀβραάμ, θεὸς Ἰσαάκ, θεὸς Ἰακώβ, ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου. Κάτελθε εἰς Αἰγυπτον καὶ ἐξάγαγε τὸν λαόν μου“. Τὰ δ᾿ ἑπόμενα ἐξ ἐκείνων βουλόμενοι μαθεῖν δύνασθε· οὐ γὰρ δυνατὸν ἐν τούτοις ἀναγράψαι πάντα. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰς ἀπόδειξιν γεγόνασιν οἵδε οἱ λόγοι, ότι υἱὸς θεοῦ καὶ ἀπόστολος ᾿Ιησοῦς ὁ Χριστός ἐστι, πρότερον λόγος ὤν, καὶ ἐν ἰδέᾳ πυρὶ ς ποτὲ φανείς, ποτὲ δὲ καὶ ἐν εἰκόνι ἀσωμάτῳ· νῦν δὲ διὰ θελήματος θεοῦ ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἀνθρωπείου γένους ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος ὑπέμεινε καὶ παθεῖν, ὅσα αὐτὸν ἐνήργησαν οἱ δαίμονες διατεθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων Ἰουδαίων. Οἵτινες ἔχοντες ῥητῶς εἰρημένον ἐν τοῖς Μωϋσέως συντάγμασι· „Καὶ ἐλάλησεν ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ Μωϋσεῖ ἐν πυρὶ φλογὸς ἐν βάτῳ καὶ εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, ἱ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακώβ“, τὸν τῶν όλων πατέρα καὶ δημιουργὸν τὸν ταῦτα εἰπόντα λέγουσιν εἶναι. Ὅθεν καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα ἐλέγχον αὐτοὺς εἶπεν· „Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκε“. Καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ὡς ἐδηλώσαμεν, παρ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἂν εἶπεν· „Οὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα εἰ μἰ ὁ υἱός, οὐδὲ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ οἷς ἂν ἱ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ“. Ἰουδαῖοι οὖν ἡγησάμενοι ἀεὶ τὸν πατέρα τᾶν ὅλων λελαληκέναι τῷ Μωϋσεῖ, τοῦ λαλήσαντος αὐτῷ ὄντος υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ ἄγγελος καὶ ἀπόστολος κέκληται, δικαίως ἐλέγχονται καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος καὶ δι᾿ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς οὔτε τὸν πατέρα οὔτε τὸν υἱὸν ἔγνωσαν. Οἱ γὰρ τὸν υἱὸν πατέρα φάσκοντες εἶναι ἐλέγχονται μήτε τὸν πατέρα ἐπιστάμενοι, μηθ᾿ ότι ἐστὶν υἱὸς τῷ πατρὶ τῶν ὅλων γινώσκοντες· ὃς λόγος καὶ πρωτότοκος ὢν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεὶς ὑπάρχει. Καὶ πρότερον διὰ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς μορφῆς καὶ εἰκόνος ἀσωμάτου τῷ Μωϋσεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἑτέροις προφήταις ἐφάνη· νῦν δ᾿ ἐν χρόνοις τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς, ὡς προείπομεν, διὰ παρθένου ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς βουλὴν ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τῶν πιστευόντων αὐτῷ καὶ ἐξουθενηθῆναι καὶ παθεῖν ὑπέμενεν, ἵνα ἀποθανὼν καὶ ἀναστὰς νικήσῃ τὸν θάνατον. Τὶ δὲ εἰρημένον ἐκ βάτου τῷ Μωϋσεῖ· „Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακὼβ καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου“, σημαντικὸν τοῦ καὶ ἀποθανόντας ἐκείνους μένειν καὶ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀνθρώπους· καὶ γὰρ πρῶτοι τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐκεῖνοι περὶ θεοῦ ζήτησιν ἠσχολήθησαν, Ἀβραὰμ μὲν πατὴρ ὢν τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσαὰκ δὲ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἀνέγραψε.